Northern Nights
by Karevsanatomy
Summary: AU The promise of a new life is a lure Meredith cannot resist. Needing to put her past behind her, Izzie seeks out the husband who left her. Wanting a future Addison needs to put the past to rest. Meredith and Mark Addison and Derek, Izzie and Alex.
1. Chapter 1

-1[I] Author's Note: In all actuality Barrow, Alaska is the northern most town in the United States, with a population of around 4,000. However, for the sake of fiction I have created a town slightly smaller than Barrow, located a bit further north, and in desperate need of people…especially of the female variety…named Northern, Alaska. Yeah, not very creative, but there is a reason for that! Also, there are some cliché aspects to this story that shall be poked fun of by characters within the context of the story. I hope you enjoy my newest AU fic. All reviews are welcome, as long as they are not flamers. In which case you will be dowsed and flamed back. [/I]

Prologue

Northern, Alaska

July 5th

A warm breeze teased Richard Webber as he stepped off the front porch of the one room cabin he called home. Gingerly he made his way along the rutted dirt road that ran through the middle of town. A man had to be careful walking that road, if he wasn't he was liable to twist an ankle or worse. Having experienced the 'or worse' once before, Richard made a point of keeping track of each and every rut, and watching out for new ones. One winter spent on Ole Joe's couch due to a broken leg, listening to the big jovial man snore, had been enough for him.

Sighing, the older man bound up the front steps of Ole Joe's Pub and Grill. It was the only place a man could get a decent meal that as well as whatever alcohol Ole Joe had managed to have flown in. The little chalkboard sign outside the door proclaimed Elk Steak and Tequila as the items of the day. The steak would be alright, but tequila wasn't really Richard's poison.

"Hey Webber, how's leg?" Ole Joe guffawed from behind his counter once Richard had entered the rather dark tavern. There weren't any windows, and the antler chandelier over head offered little in the way of light. It suited the men of Northern though. They didn't need drafty windows or bright lights to enjoy their meat and liquor; which were the only two reasons to come to Ole Joe's.

"Leg's good. Bit stiff, but good." Richard eased himself onto the stool he had come to think of as his. Two stools down sat a dark haired fellow he only knew as O'Malley. He was a quiet kid, kept mostly to himself. From what Richard knew the younger man worked as a mechanic for Mark Sloan and Derek Shepherd. "I'll have me one of those Elk steaks and a cup of coffee if you have it."

"No coffee. Not yet. It's coming in on Derek's next run." Ole Joe shrugged. The lack of coffee wasn't too surprising, it was a luxury for them; almost impossible to obtain during the winter months.

"Just the steak then," Richard sighed. He crossed his arms and leaned them on the sticky, scarred, wooden bar. "Maybe a glass of water."

"Hey, Walter, need one of them steaks, throw a potato on the side, and a glass of water." Ole Joe yelled to the back. The unseen Walter grunted back a reply. A moment later a re-heated steak, paired with a wrinkled up small potato, and a glass of murky water appeared. "There ya go."

Richard murmured his thanks before starting in on the gamey tasting meat. He wasn't too fond of caribou but it beat anything he could come up with at home. Cooking wasn't something Richard would consider himself good at, he could get by fair enough on the days it was too cold to venture out or the days he couldn't stomach Joe's brand of cooking. 'Be nice to get a real restaurant in,' he mused silently. The chances of that were slim to none. Real cooks did not set up eateries in little holes in the wall where it dropped down to negative sixty in the winter.

"Hey, Joe, got your order!" a dark shadow yelled from the doorway. Richard didn't have to see his face to know it was Derek Shepherd. He had spent many a weekend fly fishing with the younger man. It was clear that Derek was well educated, but why he had chosen Northern, Alaska as the place to plant his roots nobody knew. It had something to do with his best friend Mark, but outside that his arrival and decision to stay was a mystery. "Want it now or later?"

"Now, my boy, now." Ole Joe boomed. The man was no doubt anxious to have his coffee and liquor supply replenished. Richard couldn't blame him. The summer months were when they all made their money. If they didn't bring in enough before winter struck they were just shit out of luck, unless a neighbor had stock piled enough supplies that they could share

Richard had faced one winter, two years back, where he would have most likely starved if the game warden hadn't left little bundles on his back steps. It was bit laughable that he, Richard Webber, would have to rely on the kindness of a twenty-three year old kid who rode around on a four wheeler during the spring and summer, and a snow mobile in the winter, for food. It was nothing against Alex Karev, he appreciated what the kid had done for him, it was just embarrassing that he had gone from the town's main source of income to the old man who lived on the outskirts of town and couldn't feed himself. There had been a time, over ten years now, when he would have been the one offering 'help' to some one in need, but those days were gone. He couldn't afford to maintain the hunting cabins that lined the edge of his land, nor could he afford the amount of advertising it would take to get people to come. He was a has been with more land than he knew what to do with. Land rich in animals, but not black gold.

"Hey, Shep you mind if I catch a lift with you next time you fly into Anchorage?" Alex yelled out from some hidden corner Richard had over looked. He had a fondness for that kid that had nothing to do with food and everything to do with respect.

"Let me guess, you're needing to visit a certain somebody," another fellow at the back of the bar snickered. "Can't say as I blame you."

No, Richard couldn't either. There were only three women in the town; two of which were a couple and the third so cankerous nobody wanted to tangle with her. Alex, along with a few others, had a regular 'friend' he visited in Anchorage when weather allowed. From what Richard knew, the gal was more than willing to up and move to Northern, but for whatever reason Alex wouldn't allow it.

"You'll have to talk to Mark, he's making the next run." Derek yawned, toting in the last of five crates with Ole Joe written across the top. "Don't see why it would be a problem though. Might have to wait a day or so before coming back though."

"Nota problem," Alex snickered. Most likely those days would be spent between the legs of his friend or some other willing female.

"What we need is some women," the man next to Richard grumbled. "I'm sick of having to fly down south just to get a little action. It's not right, I tell you. Man isn't meant to be alone."

Silently, Richard agreed. Man wasn't meant to be alone, but Northern was as close to paradise as a man would get and none of them were up to leaving. Which meant they would have to get an influx of women. There was nothing to offer a woman in their God forsaken bit of the world; just a bunch of horny men in need of some major TLC.

"Thought about placing me an ad for one of them mail order brides." the man next to him continued. "Figured I could offer some foreign girl a home. That's all most of them girl's want, just a home."

Just a home. Hm. If that was all a woman really wanted Richard had plenty of them sitting on his land. An idea started to take root, and by the time he left for home he was whistling and feeling pretty proud of himself.


	2. Chapter 2

-1[u] Chapter One [/u]

In the course of the five years Derek Shepherd had been making deliveries he had come across some rather odd…packages…but none of them topped the delivery he was about to make for Richard Webber. Lifting his eyes, almost the same color as the expanse of sky before him, to the "rear-view" mirror Mark had insisted on installing, he stared back at the "packages" Richard had been anxiously waiting on. There were three of them, with two more coming in on the next flight. His only hope was the other two were nothing like this batch.

"That old devil," he thought, shaking his head with a grin. He went through the motions of explaining the landing process, throwing out a few lines concerning the weather like a real 'pilot' would, and started the descent onto the strip of blacktop Mark and he had painstakingly poured years ago; back when they first opened 'The Double S' freight service.

"This is One Hot Stud to Fuck-head, over," Mark's voice crackled through the radio. "Might want to watch out for Moose upon landing."

Great. More moose. There had been a problem lately with the damn creatures frequenting the run-way. Derek had threatened to take down the antique shotgun Mark had mounted on their office wall, load it, and blow the large bastards to kingdom come. Their constant trudging back and forth was wearing on the runway, and neither partner wanted to repair the strip, not after they had already mended the damage done by the harsh winter.

"Unlucky bastard is more like it," Derek muttered under his breath. Today's run should have been Mark's, but an encounter with a rather amorous widow had Mark avoiding Anchorage lately. Stalker widow or not, Derek had no doubt his best friend and business partner would regret taking on the tedious book work over flying once he got a look at what Richard was having delivered. It wasn't every day they were asked to deliver a woman with two teenagers, one of which was pregnant. The odd thing was, the oldest woman, the one the two teens seemed to be looking up to, couldn't be past twenty-five; which begged the reason of why she had two teenagers to begin with.

"Excuse me, but is there any way you could hurry up with the landing?" Teenager number one, the pregnant one, asked from the back. "I really need to go to the bathroom." If he recalled rightly, she was the red head with the freckles across her nose.

"If you hadn't guzzled all that pop on the other plane you wouldn't need to use the bathroom!" Teenager number two, a sassy mouthed brunette with large gray eyes, snipped at the other woman. "You can hold it."

"I can't," the red head bit out from between gritted teeth. "I'm pregnant. Pregnant people have to pee Lexie. It is a fact of life!"

The older woman, let out a disgruntled sigh and begged the two girls to just be quiet; the plane would land when it landed. She was rather pretty, the third one; long, dark blonde hair and expressive green eyes that seemed to see more than was possible. He had a feeling he would like her; if for no other reason than the fact that she had shut the other two up.

"Might want to brace yourself," Derek warned the women right before the tires hit the ground. The little red-head, the one he was certain had been complaining about her need to go to the bathroom, let out a shriek. Almost immediately the dark haired on started in on her, berating and remarks about the girl's age and condition.

"That is enough," the blonde snapped. "Alexandria, if you do not stop it, I'm going to ship you back to your grandmother's. Is that what you want? To live with Dorothy?" The threat seemed to work because Alexandria, the rather boisterous dark haired one, fell into a brooding quiet. He waited for her to get onto the pregnant one, but she never did. If it had been him, the girl with the baby belly would have been the first kid he lectured.

Mark met the plane once they were on the ground, his eyes widening when he seen what Derek had been sent to pick up. "Richard," Derek muttered as a way of an explanation when his partner sent him a questioning look.

"They're relatives of Richard?" Mark wrinkled his brow. Derek shrugged. To be honest he didn't have a clue how or why these females knew Richard, an he wasn't sure he wanted to know. It wasn't his concern. "They look nothing like him. They're sort of, well, not right."

Derek bit back a laugh. Leave it to Mark to question the obvious. It was clear that they were not relatives of Richard Webber, yet Mark seemed oblivious to that fact. It wasn't unusual, this denseness of Mark, and at times Derek enjoyed a good laugh at his expense; other times, though, it was down right annoying.

"Excuse me, but my reasons for being here, and what they have to do with Richard, are not your concern." the blonde said coolly. "Now, fi you would just point me in the right direction I would be more than happy to be on my way."

Today was going to be a day where Derek enjoyed Mark's denseness, because he could feel what his best friend was about to say next, and it would no doubt piss the woman off. "Sorry, but you're considered a package. Which means I can't let you go until Richard signs for you."

The little blonde let out a shriek. Yup, this was going to be fun.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Two

Six months ago, Meredith Grey would have pushed out her lower lip, crossed her arms and sniffled around if a man had called her a package. She would have made him pity her, talked her way into a drink, and then screwed him until he couldn't see straight. That had been six months ago, though, and the new, semi lost, Meredith could do nothing but stare at him.

"I'm sorry," she stammered. "I don't understand." She pushed up the sleeves of her light weight t-shirt, embarrassed that she had geared up for the cold, even though it was August. Another one of her misconceptions she would have to work around. There seemed to be so many of them lately, and she didn't have a fucking clue how to even begin.

"Since Richard listed you guys as packages, not passengers, you are considered live freight. Which means Richard has to sign for you," the dark haired pilot, who had met them in Anchorage, explained; his crystalline eyes sparkling with amusement. "Sorry, but rules are rules."

"You're kidding right?" Meredith let out a nervous laugh. Neither of the men before her joined in. They were dead serious. The goofy old man who had promised her a house just for moving here and starting some sort of business had to come sign for her. It was the most ridiculous bit of crap Meredith had ever heard of. "So we have to just stay here until this Richard decides to come sign for us?"

"I need to pee," Molly whined from behind her. Meredith glanced over her shoulder at her fifteen year old sister. The girl pleaded with her from large blue eyes that were quite like their father's. Failure, mixed with some lingering grief, had her offering the pregnant girl a sympathetic smile.

"Bathroom's that way," the cocky, taller man with the laughing blue-gray eyes jerked his thumb toward the metal hanger that was situated a good thirty feet away. Molly let out a groan and then started trudging toward the hanger. "How old is that kid?"

"Not old enough to be having a baby," Meredith muttered under her breath. It had come as a shock to her when Molly had come to her five months ago saying she was pregnant. She hadn't even known the girl was dating, let alone having sex. According to Alexandria, the whole situation was Meredith's fault. If Meredith had been doing her job as a guardian, then Molly wouldn't have turned to sex as a way of coping with their parents deaths.

"She's fifteen," Alexandria snapped. "I'm seventeen. Too young for you. Don't worry, Meredith's old enough and she's really into the whole meaningless sex with strangers thing."

"Alexandria," Meredith snapped. She could feel embarrassment coloring her cheeks a brilliant red. She should have known the older of her two younger sisters would get a dig in some where.

"What?" Alexandria looked at her, feigned innocence on her face but smugness in her eyes. "I'm only telling the truth Meredith. The whole family knows what a whore you are."

"I said that was enough." Meredith bit out. She had almost had it with her. She was trying to understand, to keep in mind that the girl had lost both her parents, but there were times, like now, that it was hard. "Or are you trying to gain a one way ticket to Aunt Dorothy's?"

There was no mistaking the gasp and the muttering that followed that particular threat. Aunt Dorothy was their father's sister, and a more odd woman never existed. She lived in a one bedroom trailer in Louisiana, had around thirty indoor cats, and no air conditioning. Visiting the woman was bad enough, the idea of living with her was horrific.

"I think I seen Richard over at Ole Joe's," the second man said uneasily. "I think I'll just walk over and see." He shot Meredith a knowing grin, winked, and then sauntered off. Great. Just great. Alexandria had already established her as the town whore, and all in a matter of minutes of arriving.

"You do that," the pilot laughed. "Oh, and Mark, the widow Stamile said to tell you hello." The man named Mark raised his left hand, all the fingers but the middle one bent down. The pilot turned back to them, a grin on his face. He held out his hand. "Name's Derek Shepherd."

"Meredith Grey," she said politely, accepting his handshake. There was nothing dirty or suggestive in his smile or the way he looked at her. Yeah, he was curious, but she couldn't blame him for that. She, herself, was curious as to how Richard's little plan was going to work. He had explained some of it, how he wanted the town to grow, to become family friendly; and that was why he was doing what he was doing. "This is my sister Alexandria. Sometimes, if she likes a person, she lets them call her Lexie. The other one is Molly."

"I figured you were to young to be their mother," Derek laughed. Meredith nodded. Much to young to be their mother. She was only twenty-six, and a good day she could act her age.

"My father and step-mother were killed in an…accident." Meredith licked her lips. Accident was a nice way of putting it. Her father had done what he did best, drank too much and drove. Unfortunately this time he had her step-mother Susan with him; and instead of accidentally taking out the back wall of the garage he plowed them into a tree going almost a hundred miles per hour.

"I'm sorry," Derek said softly. "I know how hard it is to loose someone." She caught a brief flicker of something sad in his eyes, but it was gone before she could fully get a grasp on it. "If you ever need to talk…" He left the offer on the table, and then smiled brightly again when he spotted Mark and a stoop shoulder dark skinned man with a white speckled beard. "Ah, there's Mark and Richard."

"You must be Meredith Grey," Richard greeted before they even reached the spot where Meredith, Derek, and Alexandria stood. "It is a pleasure to finally meet you."

"You as well," Meredith smiled. She blinked and let out a startled gasp when he engulfed her in a hug. He smelled of pipe tobacco and fresh air. "Most of my stuff is still in Anchorage, but once it is here I fully plan on starting the newspaper we discussed. It won't be much at first, because I don't know a lot about the area, but once I get to know people better and know what is going on it should get better." She left out the part of not knowing what the hell she was doing. She had only been a reporter for the Los Angeles Times for three months before Thatcher and Susan died; not a lot of time to take in how a newspaper was run, but she would learn.

"I'm sure it will be fine." Richard assured her. He smiled again, and then looked at Alexandria. "This must be Lexie." The sullen faced girl stared at him for a second before nodding. "Where's the other?"

"Bathroom," Alexandria yawned. The girl was beyond rude, and Meredith didn't think telling her that would do a damn thing. She had no doubt the younger girl knew exactly what she was about. "That's where most people who are pregnant spend their time. Of course, poor Molly wouldn't be pregnant if we had a better guardian."

Taking a deep breath, Meredith let it out slowly. She wasn't going to lose her temper, not in front of three strangers. "Would it be alright if we seen the house and started getting settled?" She had arranged for their furniture to be delivered almost a month ago, and Richard had assured her last night that it was waiting for her.

"Yes, because we are just so ready to rot in some middle of no where town," Alexandria muttered. She clamped her mouth shut when Meredith mouthed 'Aunt Dorothy.'

They waited for Molly before starting the trek into town. It didn't surprise Meredith that there were no cement roads, and very few motorized vehicles. She tried to pay attention as either Mark or Derek rattled off information about each business or empty building. She knew it was rude, not listening, but figured she would learn about this place soon enough.

She was all ears though when she heard Mark snapping at Richard about there being no way in hell they could live in that house. Meredith blinked, and let out a horrified gasp.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Three

Accusatory glares bore holes into the back of Meredith's back as she slowly unpacked the box marked dishes. Her fingers shook just a little as she organized the matching set of bone china that had been her step-mother's pride and joy on one of the shelves that served as a cabinet. She had known the house in Alaska wouldn't be what they were use to, but she hadn't known it would be almost uninhabitable. The shock of how poorly kept the old hunting lodge was had kept both Alexandria and Molly quiet for the past hour.

"You should have took those guys up on their offer," Molly said finally. Her voice was closer than Meredith had expected and her fingers almost released the bowl that she had just unwrapped.

"Seriously. This place is a dump!" Alexandria accused from the opposite side of the room. Meredith let out a flustered sigh. She had known the quiet was too good to last.

"I am not letting two men we don't know give us their house just because the two of you are too good to try and make this work!" Meredith snapped. Her head was starting to throb, and the idea of being trapped all winter in this little hell hole with Alexandria's mouth and Molly's whining was almost more than she could take. They didn't know how close she was to breaking down. They didn't need to know either. Just like they didn't need to know that their father had pretty much thrown away all his money and they were broke. Flat ass broke. They were living on the meager savings Meredith had, and pretty soon that would be gone too. This too good too be true opportunity in Alaska was their one shot.

"I don't think not wanting to live in a rat infested piece of shit is being too good," Alexandria yelled, her pale face brightening to a tomato red. "Look around Meredith. We can't live here!"

She was right. God help her, but Alexandria was right. They couldn't live there, not with the house in it's present condition. Bits of light showed through cracks in the walls, and all the windows would need to be sealed. It wouldn't be so bad in the summer, but come winter those two things alone would cause problems. "We can make this work," she insisted.

"How? Because you said so?" Alexandria launched herself off the dark green club chair that had been in their father's office. Only bits and pieces of furniture from their old life had made it here. The rest had been sold for bills. Of course the girls both thought she was being greedy, but she couldn't help that. "We are going to become human popsicles, Meredith! I would rather live with the smell of cat piss in Louisianna than here!" Molly gasped. Nobody preffered Aunt Dorothy, it just wasn't done.

"Yeah, well tough! You're going to have to find some way to make this work, Alexandria Caroline Grey, because your ass is stuck here until you graduate high school!" Meredith shouted. She felt the salty sting of tears collecting in her eyes and hated herself for being so weak.

"What high school! There is no school! Did you not get that memo Meredith? There is no school!" Alexandria shot back. Next to her, Molly seemed rather pleased with the no school development, but then she would. School had never been her thing. She had been more of a social butterfly. At least until she got pregnant. It all changed after that. Once word got around that Molly Grey was pregnant her so called friends dropped her. It had been brutal, and one of the reasons Meredith had wanted to get them out of California.

"You're going to home school. We've been over that," Meredith reminded in a low voice. There were days, like today, when her sister was more than she could handle. "Can't we just call a truce or something Lexie? Don't you get tired of being such a nasty little brat all the time?"

Alexandria let a gasp out, her eyes widening. "I told you not to call me that!" The nasty little brat comment had gone unnoticed, or was being ignored at the moment.

"Fine. You know what, I'll just call you Thing One!" Meredith said flippantly. It was meant as a joke, but she doubted Alexandria would see it that way or remember how much she had loved Meredith reading The Cat In The Hat to her when she was small.

"Does that make me Thing Two?" Molly giggled, a small smile teasing on her lips. Alexandria shot her a hard look. The younger girl sighed. "I'm not picking a side, Lexie. She's our sister too."

"No, she's just some…mistake…our father had with his ex-wife!" Alexandria sneered. The little jibe was more than Meredith could take. She grabbed her purse and slammed out of the small house. Screw them. They could take care of themselves for a while. After all, that was what they were wanting; for her to disappear and leave them alone. Well, for a while, they were going to get their wish.

"Meredith," Molly yelled after her. She ignored her. As much as they wanted her gone, she needed to be gone. They were turning her into a person she didn't know and didn't like.


End file.
